Layoffs are spreading to almost every sector of the economy as businesses cope with falling orders and rising losses. The economy has lost 4.4 million jobs since the recession began in 2007, more than in any other postwar recession. Most economists say they don’t expect to see much improvement over the short term.

The unemployment rate in February hit 8.1 percent, the government reported on Friday. That's the highest level since 1983 when the rate was 8.3 percent. At the same time, there was a net loss of 651,000 jobs in February, about on par with January and December, whose losses were more severe by a revised total of 161,000 jobs.

“We knew it would get worse before it gets better and this is worse,” says Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group in Pittsburgh. “There has been an amazing sharp and steady decline in jobs for the last four months and there is almost no place to hide.”

The only sectors adding jobs were education, health services. and government. This has been the case for the last several months.

A broader measure of the jobs picture, which includes people who have stopped looking for work and people who are involuntarily working part-time, also deteriorated last month, jumping nearly a full percentage point to 14.8 percent from 13.9 percent. The economy has now lost 4.4 million jobs since December 2007, considered the start of the recession.